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Rajasthan
Sikhs ask for a separate Gurdwara
Management committee
by Ravinder Singh Robin
Amritsar:
Close on the heels of the proposal of forming a separate committee
for gurdwaras in Haryana, Sikhs in Rajasthan have threatened to
intensify their demand for a separate Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee
which would attend to the concerns of Sikhs in Rajasthan. Sikhs
in Rajasthan state have told the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak
Committee (SGPC), the premier body of the Sikhs that if it continued
to ignore their interests, they will be compelled to demand the
setting up a separate Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee for Rajasthan.
A meet was organised on Wednesday by the five high priests to
discuss issues like Haryana Committee, Dera Sachcha Sauda, and
complaints regarding the concern of Sikhs in Rajasthan. Jathedar
of Akal Takht Giani Gurbachan Singh , Jathedar of Takht Damdama
Sahib Giani Balwant Singh Nandgarh , Jathedar of Takht Kesgarh
Sahib Giani Tarlochan Singh , Chief Granthi of Golden Temple,
Giani Jaswinder Singh, and Granthi of Golden Temple Giani Mal
Singh attended the meeting. A delegation of Sikhs from Rajasthan
on Wednesday gave a memorandum to the Jathedar of Akal Takht.
Later, it interacted with the media outside the secretariat of
Akal Takht. Voicing the demands for a separate Haryana Committee,
Tejinder Singh Timma, General Secretary of the managing committee,
Gurdwara Shaheed Baba Deep Singh of Sriganganagar, said: " SGPC
is not granting any facilities to the Sikhs living in Haryana
whereas the Haryana Government has been felicitating the Sikhs
of Haryana." " However, it could be to woo them for votes," he
added. Timma pointed out that a member was nominated from amongst
the Sikhs from Rajasthan to the SGPC without taking the Sikh Sangat
(community) of Rajasthan into confidence. Moreover, he lamented
that the SGPC never took note of the interests of thousands of
Sikhs settled in Sriganganagar and other districts of Rajasthan.
"If they continued to do so we will be left with no option but
to form our own Gurdwara management committee," Timma said adding
that that Avtar Singh Makkar, the President of SGPC, has initiated
a few programs to be organized in Rajasthan after several years.
In a separate news conference, Giani Gurbachan Singh, Jathedar
of Akal Takht, on Wednesday stated that the five high priests
had condemned the move to set up a separate Gurdwara management
body in Haryana. He alleged that the proposal to establish a separate
committee was a ploy to divide the Sikh community. The Sikh clerics
also indicated on continuing their efforts for dissolution of
the proposed Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (HSGPC),
in case it was formed at the behest of Haryana's Congress Government.
Gurbachan Singh said that if there was any resentment amongst
the Sikhs of Haryana it could be solved through dialogue and it
was an internal matter of Sikhs. Gurbachan, however, assured the
Sikhs from Rajasthan that their all concerns will be conveyed
to the SGPC, the premier body of Sikhs who is also responsible
for the take care of the historical gurdwaras of Rajasthan.
-Aug 13, 2009
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